Dances With Vikings

A recent article on RÚV talks about Danish archaeological research showing that a Viking-age woman has ties to North American Indian tribes, using a technique that measures levels of strontium in the teeth, as well as DNA analysis from her bones. The strontium in the teeth reveals where a person was born and lived the early years of their life, while the strontium in bones shows where a person lived during the end of their life. Since strontium isotopes differ from region to region, this allows researchers to detect a person’s migration during their life.

“The research shows that a Viking-age woman, found in a grave at Funen, has a family line that traces back to Indians of North America. Among other things, archaeological research at a gravesite from the years 800 to 1100 near Otterup in Galgedil on Funen uncovered the grave of a young woman.”

að rekja – to track, trace

present

past

ég

rek

rakti

þú

rekur

raktir

það

rekur

rakti

við

rekjum

röktum

þið

rekið

röktuð

þau

rekja

röktu

gröf (f) – grave

singular

plural

nom

gröf

grafir

acc

gröf

grafir

dat

gröf

gröfum

gen

grafar

grafa

The word for grave (gröf) comes from the same root as the word for dig or bury (grafa).

“It could be seen from the radioactive strontium in her teeth that she was raised in Denmark; the level of strontium that originally came from drinking water, and which differs from place to place, indicates where a person lived during the first year of their life. It was discovered that the DNA in her bones was of the halotype X2c, which is rare in Europe and not found in Asia, but is common in North America.”

The word uppalinn (raised, brought up) comes from the verb ala:

að ala – to bear, nourish

present

past

ég

el

ól

þú

elur

ólst

það

elur

ól

við

ölum

ólum

þið

alið

óluð

þau

ala

ólu

So ala upp is to bring up (raise), and in reflexive form you find phrases like:

“Scientists believe that the woman is not from Scandanavia, but a second generation immigrant to Denmark. She most likely came from Vinland, where Icelanders and Greenlanders of Icelandic heritage sailed to. The woman’s grave lies northeast and southwest and a knife had been placed with her. To Sören Michael Sindbæk, who directs the research, this indicates that the grave is from heathen times.”